Backstabbed: A Rurouni Kenshin - Inu Yasha cross-over fic

Author's notes: For all intents and purposes, Inu Yasha is human in this fic. That means I'll be writing him as his dark-haired counterpart. Sesshomaru and Koga will remain the same, seeing as how they already have fully human appearances.

D`O`S, Chaos' brother, is excited about his band becoming part of a fic. He hopes it'll help Random gain some popularity. They got together only back in the spring and managed to rank three of six in our high school's battle of the bands. For more info about the Random Band, visit their website.

-DE

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There was one other person at Feldspar High as brooding as Kerri Mortisen: Sesshomaru, half brother of Kagome's love interest, Inu Yasha. The blond-haired, golden-eyed pretty boy trusted no one and cared for no one. Unfortunately for Sesshomaru, he had a posse of giggly, starry eyed girls following him everywhere he went and was something of a heartthrob.

Also a senior, he and Kerri had a mutual understanding that they could freely grumble to one another without having to deal with the actual concept of friendship interfering with a relationship based on finding fault in the surrounding community. Sesshomaru was a most intelligent young man, headed to a prestigious college in the fall, the University of Hexatodus, and thought himself better than most of Feldspar's populace. He rejected the legions of girls swearing undying love to him and coldly turned away any one's attempts to befriend him.

Any one except Kerri. A hardened, mysterious girl with stringy hair and deep, sorrowful eyes, she was the perfect candidate for his abuse. She never complained at his verbal assaults after a bad day, rather she prattled on and on about her own misery. They fairly enjoyed one another's company, although neither would admit it, and ranted and raved to each other every chance they got.

"Your brother's dippy friends are planning something." Kerri grumbled to the blond during lunch that day.

A sophomore like Kagome, Inu Yasha was rather crude and overbearing. He had long dark hair, dark eyes and a punk attitude. Often seen with the no good troublemakers of the school, Inu Yasha had an unexplainable "thing" for his little cheerleader friend and the other members of their ragtag group. They had been friends from the early days and they were four in number. Besides Inu Yasha and Kagome were Sango, a junior girl with a troubled past, and Miroku an easy-going, lecherous senior.

"Which friends?" Sesshomaru asked distractedly. He was working on his calculus homework, not paying much attention to the girl. They both spent their lunch period in the library, Sesshomaru hiding from scores of giggly female worshippers and Kerri trying to ignore the rest of the world.

"Not the old-school group." She said, referring to Inu Yasha's dysfunctional friends, "The preps."

"Oh. Them. Don't worry about it. They're pretty dumb."

"I know. But Crystal and Sanosuke kept looking at me during English and I get the idea whatever they're plotting has something to do with the Random concert."

"Crystal? She couldn't find her way out of a paper bag if she tried. I wouldn't get my shorts in a twist over her. And you're not going to that stupid concert anyway, are you?"

"I like Random. I wouldn't mind going."

"Waste of money if you ask me." Sesshomaru played the cello. He listened to classical music only. Or so every one thought. He was a closet Random fan, never telling any one that he not only had both their CDs, but also a tee-shirt, a bumper sticker and a coffee mug.

Kerri stared at him for a moment. Sesshomaru, the pretty boy; dressed in khakis and a red, polo shirt, his math things spread before him on the table. Arguing with him was a lost cause. "I'll see you later." She muttered as she hoisted her courier bag over her shoulder and slouched out of the room.

He didn't even look up from his homework as she retreated.

Katsuhiro's gaze followed Kerri down the hall. He wasn't sure just why every one hated her so much. She certainly was gloomy, with thin black hair and inky eyes and all of her clothing shades of charcoal. She had a certain style, an attractive figure, and was certainly intriguing, but Sanosuke was always warning him not to get too interested. She's a strange one, his friend warned, and she's vengeful. You don't want to cross her.

She seemed unapproachable. He wanted to talk to her, but didn't know what to say. How does one approach somebody totally locked away within themself? What was he supposed to talk about? He felt sorry for her, all alone all the time.

Brushing a strand of hair from his turquoise eyes, he wandered into the library. He was worried about the way Sano and Crystal had been whispering back and forth during English class. He'd only been able to catch snatches of their conversation without appearing to seem too interested and nosey, but the words "Random", "revenge" and "Kerri" had all peppered the discussion. He didn't trust Crystal any more than he trusted a bomb with a lit fuse.

"Kerri."

The girl turned to come face to face with the smiling visage of Sojiro Seta. Sojiro was just about the only person she trusted. Dark-haired, blue-eyed and slightly off-balance, the senior boy was always grinning while really always living in silent torment. His family hated him, he had been brainwashed by an older friend at a young age and was only then learning to think for himself.

"What's up, Sojiro?"

"You going to the concert in August?"

"I don't know. Most people are taking some one with them. I don't want to go alone and look like a major goober. Are you going?"

"Not my scene." He shook his head cheerfully, "Besides, I'll be in Fairbrook by then."

"Right." She nodded.

Sojiro was headed to a small, private college in the middle of nowhere. Fairbrook was something of a prep school, exclusive and expensive. He'd been offered a full scholarship and was very glad to finally leave home.

"Wait a minute. Aren't you going to be gone then too?"

"Well, I do leave the Sunday before, but I'm only going an hour away to Skeeverton. I plan on coming home for the weekend. We always go to see the fireworks with old family friends."

"Oh. Well, I gotta go. Sociology class. The study of human beings and how they interact is fascinating, you know." He grinned, "I'll see you around."

"Bye." She watched as he left, the same broad smile plastered on his face. She knew how much he suffered inside. Not many people understood him, but she knew everything about him. She went through the same torment as he did, hiding her heart, never letting any one see who she really was.

Government class. Shoot me now. There were a lot of familiar faces in Mr. Inatset's class; Kenshin, Sanosuke, Katsu, Crystal, Miroku. Also involved in this circle of acquaintances were Kikyo, an old girlfriend of Inu Yasha's who had been skipped ahead a grade; Hajime Saito, rival of Kenshin who was rumored to smoke between classes, and his quiet girlfriend, Tokio. The latter two were and always would be the undisputed class couple; they had been together for the past five years.

Kerri hated government. Not only did she hate everything about the whole stinkin' capitalist regime of America, she hated all the arguments that broke out amongst the class. Every one disagreed about everything and it was too loud for her in that classroom, due to all the shouting back and forth. Learning fascinated the girl. The only problem was, they never taught her anything she cared about at school.

Katsu also despised the class. He was anti-patriotic, loathing everything about the way the country was run. Listening to Mr. Inatset ramble on about the government was his least favorite part of the day. He pulled out a pencil and drew a picture of his best friend in his sketch book. He was an outstanding artist, always drawing caricatures of his classmates at their request. He had this in common with Kerri.

Kerri watched as Katsu sketched, his long hair held off his face by a green bandana. She envied his ability to draw things so realistically. She specialized in cartoons and doodles. Then she noticed something out of the corner of her eye. Crystal was trying to get her attention. The girl was urgently waving a folded piece of paper under her desk.

Waiting until the teacher was distracted, Kerri snatched the paper and unfolded it in her lap.

Ker-

Sano says that Katsuhiro wants to take you to the concert, but he's too shy to ask you. What do you think?

-Cry

The friendless girl snorted indelicately. Katsu wanted to go with her? A likely story. That must've been what the two had been scheming away about during English in the morning. Dragging poor Katsuhiro unknowingly into it wasn't very fair. She crumpled the paper and left it on her desk to throw away later.

"I don't know what shit you're trying to pull with me." She said coldly to Crystal after class, "But I'm not falling for it. And leave Katsu out of your damn games. He doesn't deserve to be treated like shit because you want to annoy me."

"I'm serious." The blond girl insisted, "Katsuhiro really likes you. I don't know why," She shrugged, "But Sano says he wants to get to know you. Seems like a waste of time to me, what with tomorrow being the last day of class and all. I mean, he had four years to get together with you. It's a little late now."

Kerri nodded vaguely. What she knew and Crystal didn't was that both she and Katsu had been accepted -with a full ride- at Skeeverton School of Art in the small college town of Skeeverton about an hour away. It had been big news among the art department, two of their students going to the most prominent art school on the east coast, but Crystal was too busy chasing guys to take an art class. If the quiet, dark-haired artist wanted to pursue a relationship in college, Kerri would take back every nasty thing she'd ever thought about anything.

But, a voice in her head screamed, why the hell would you believe a single thing Crystal is telling you? She's a no-good, rotten liar, not to mention a manipulative, bossy psychopath. This couldn't be true. She had sworn never to believe anything her so-called friend said to her. "Whatever. I've got to go or I'll miss my bus." She turned on her heal and marched from the room.

Crystal smiled to herself, then turned to Sanosuke. "It's working. She hesitated, thinking about everything I said. She doesn't know whether to believe me or not."

Sano looked evenly at the chubby blond girl through chocolate brown eyes. "Good. I'll be glad to see her suffer. I'm still real mad at her about the time she snitched on me and ruined that fight I had planned with Saito. But Katsu better not find out about this." He looked over to where his friend was stuffing loose pages back into his sketch book, "He really is curious about her and if he found out he'd blow a fuse. The jerk gets pretty angry when some one crosses him."

"Katsuhiro won't find out. You worry too much, Sano." Crystal told him teasingly, pushing back a loose strand of his hair, a sly smile on her lips. In reality, Katsuhiro would find out everything. The blond didn't like him either. He was too much like Kerri for her taste, he could see right through her false charm, and he was always cautioning Sano against going out with her. Katsuhiro Tsukioka was the only thing that stood between Crystal and Sano now that Megumi Takani had graduated and gone away to med school. The wrestler had lusted after pretty Megumi for two years while she had done nothing more than ignore him for just as long.

Things were shaping up perfectly for Crystal's revenge on the two people she hated more than any one. She had a strong desire to laugh evilly, but held it in. Sano could know nothing about the fact that she wanted to destroy Katsuhiro right before he parted ways with his big, tough best friend.